Sales of Massachusetts single-family homes decreased more than 28 percent in October, and median prices increased modestly, according to the latest report by The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman.
A total of 3,013 Massachusetts homes sold in October, a drop from 4,201 sales in October 2009. It represented the fourth straight month of year-over-year sales declines. This is the fewest number of sales since February of this year, and the fewest amount for any October since 1990.
Sales of single-family homes also dropped from a month ago, when there were 3,266 home sales. Year-to-date sales are up almost 2.2 percent to 34,828, up from 34,096 homes sold during the same period last year.
"As expected, sales have been declining consistently in the months following the expiration of the tax credit for homebuyers," said The Warren Group CEO Timothy M. Warren Jr. "While sales for the first 10 months of the year exceed those in the same period last year, we expect that a slow November and December will make 2010 a downer. Sales volume has declined in four of the past five years."
Sales in every county dropped in October, except in Nantucket County where sales edged up 12.5 percent.
The median price of single-family homes crept up 3.2 percent to $289,000 in October, up from $280,000 a year earlier. Median prices of single-family homes in Massachusetts also inched up from a month earlier, when the median price was $288,500. The median price for homes sold January through October was $298,000, up more than 4.5 percent from $285,000 in the prior year.
"The direction of median prices usually lags the direction of sales volume by six months or more. We could see median prices drop in another month or two," Warren said.
Much like single-family homes, condominium sales also dropped year-over-year for the fourth consecutive month in the Bay State. A total of 1,185 condos sold in October, a more than 35 percent drop from 1,839 sold a year earlier. Sales also dropped from a month earlier, when 1,328 condos sold in Massachusetts.
Year-to-date condo sales rose 0.3 percent, increasing to 15,345 from 15,293 during the same period last year.
The median condo price also increased in October. The median selling price was $252,000, up 5 percent from $240,000 a year earlier. The year-to-date median price of condos in the Bay State is $265,000, up almost 4 percent from $255,000 a year ago.
